311. Working morning hours and getting the new key person up to speed

What happens when unexpected challenges shake the foundation of a beloved community studio? This episode uncovers the behind-the-scenes complexities of studio management, revealing how unapproved activities like unauthorized membership deals and unrecorded giveaways came to light. We promise you'll learn how to navigate professional conduct and transparency in the face of change. Join us as we explore the vital steps we're taking to tackle erroneous charges and unapproved transactions, all while maintaining trust and accountability within our community.

We share the emotional journey that comes with a key team member's departure, highlighting the resilience and core values that bind our community together. Despite the hurdles, the camaraderie and transformative experiences at the heart of our studio continue to shine. Tune in to hear how we're supporting our members and instructors through this transition, ensuring that while certain faces may change, the spirit of the community remains unbroken. Let’s work toward restoring normalcy and confidence, underscoring that the strength of our community lies in more than just the sum of its parts.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:32

All right, well, happy Monday. We are starting the week off, so here's the current gist for the week Working the day job. Still, that's not going anywhere. I want to work either a morning or like an evening for the week, so that folks are seeing me, folks are available to talk about things if they need to. That's something that really matters and is important to me.

Speaker 1: 0:55

Some of the items I'm finding after the case uh, it's a lot of behind the scenes stuff that was never approved happened, whether it be membership rates, discount codes for retail products or even giveaways. One member posted on like the facebook group hey, I'm gonna miss the employee that's gone. I really appreciated how my school needed to do a fundraiser. They gave me $750 worth of protein and bags and protein and gloves and other box related equipment. I never knew about that. People are giving away raffle items and we don't even know that we're doing that. It's not deducted from inventory. It's not a write-off for a charitable contribution. Some of the actions are fine, but it needs to be handled professionally and on the books. No one's getting in trouble here, and so that part is really tricky and difficult. Additional items like sweetheart membership deals, charging people $30 or $40 for $150 membership. That's not approved. That is wrong. One person over the weekend also said hey, my card has been got charged like three weeks ago and I haven't been to the studio in over a year, you know. Could you help me get this a refund or figure out what's going on? Yeah, happy to do that so that one may have some more investigation on it. At the end of the day, there's activity that was not approved, transactions that were happening, and hopefully it's a simple clean resolution process. It's possible there's some level two follow-ups if things happened a certain way that were absolutely not approved and that will have to be unraveled over time.

Speaker 1: 2:38

I had a chance to catch up with my third of three very, very, very important instructors and I could tell she was like taken aback by the big switch. She was close to the, the key employee that's no longer at the studio and I could tell that she was hurt. And key employee that's no longer at the studio and I could tell that she was hurt and just still in a sad state, which is fine, and I don't want to try to like elevate or pull people out of a spot that they need to be in for like grieving, recovery, uncertainty, the, the common response that I've heard, which I'm grateful for. I'm here for the members, I'm here for the instructors and I'm here for me and that's, I think, the healthy response. And I'm here for me and that's, I think, a healthy response.

Speaker 1: 3:17

People don't come for one person, they don't come for the owner, they don't come for doing their own thing all by themselves. They come for a transformation, they come for the friends they have at the studio, they come for the instructors that lead the classes, and sometimes there's a switch on who is working there and sometimes they are the reason Some people are leaving because that person is gone. Sometimes people realize, well, my everyday normal is not going to be the same, but I can still get the workout, still have the camaraderie and nothing truly is lost. And that's the. It's still a sadness feeling and a working through of a lot of emotions, but that, I believe, is accurate and healthy.

Speaker 1: 3:57

People come to a studio for the camaraderie for the people, for the instructors, maybe ownership, maybe for the GM, maybe for some of the peers, but they come for a handful of people, not just a person. In terms of the follow-up, now it's time to get home and work the day job, the person who's running the place now is teed up to start cleaning up stuff that has been overlooked, ignored. I'm hoping and praying that the limitations are as limited as I want them to be and that there's not shenanigans going on in the background, but there could be a possibility, who knows? So that's where we're at, that's where we're going. Let's rock and roll.